Monsters and Masters
It was a particularily cold february night in Karakura, the first traces of rime and frost had begun to appear on the windows of the many homes of the small city. However, the city, once known for its great spiritual density had been awfully quiet for the last few weeks, souls could rarely be encountered and they had thinned down in numbers, in their place was a outbreak of Hollows which, without ordinary souls to feast upon had begun to attack and eat one another instead. This had become a major problem for Soul Society because now, the flux of powerful spiritual creatures in the once comparatively peaceful town had begun attracting Gillians from Hueco Mundo, and the new arrivals constantly wrought chaos in their quest for food. At the cause of all this was Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, because, following Aizen's defeat he had honed his abilities and taken time to refine his already exemplary abilities, all to take revenge on Ichigo Kurosaki, he had prepared a suitable punishment for the humiliation he had endured at his hands, one which he would've thoroughly enjoyed, but when he was ready to exact his just vengeance Kurosaki was nowhere to be found. Furious at what he perceived to be the antics of a coward, Grimmjow had decided to remain in the human world until he found him, however long that might be. However, the former Sexta had eventually felt hunger and, motivated partly by hunger but primarily by how he was just so fuckin' bored, Grimmjow set out to hunt for food. The pluses in Karakura had long been known for their ability to hide, blend in with the locals and pass under the radar of Hollows and they also happened to be protected by one Shinigami in particular. They had long enjoyed freedom and relative safety, but within one week, Grimmjow had suceeded in tracking down and eaten every single one of them - they could hide from ordinary Hollows perhaps, but they could never hide from him. He had never devoured them entirely though, and left them in an incomplete state where they would later transform into Hollows as well, usually forcibly ripping the chain of fate from their chest to make Hollowfication occur instantly. Having been bred and awakened through constant battle, hunts and by devouring others, Grimmjow enjoyed how the great increase in Hollow activity had caused Karakura to crumble into chaos. The town now reminded him of Hueco Mundo, intoxicated by the thrill of his accomplishments he had decided to ensure that no Shinigami or would be able to destroy his newly erected kingdom of slaughter, he quickly murdered and devoured the Shinigami in charge of protecting the town. "And there you have it." Spoke a young boy with hair as snowfall and eyes as blue-green as the north evening skies, sitting at a large wooden desk with various items scattered about, as if to symbolize some level of leadership within the organization that his white jacket with the japanese character for number "10" written upon its back would suggest. Before him, on the other side of this desk, stood a noticeably older with long flowing hair with color that resembled the young boy he was standing before. He, however, did not wear the same black robes as the young boy wore underneath his white jacket. This most likely suggested that the older man with whom the young boy was speaking with was most likely an outsider; an enigma of this society and its ruling organization. The young boy was undoubtedly the youngest Captain of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, whom ruled over the afterlife and protected all of its residents. However, more specifically, the japanese character for "10" etched onto his white jacket, which was the very symbol of his captaincy, signified to which squadron he was Captain over; with no mistake, he was Division Ten's Captain, the division responsible for monitoring specific and spiritually key areas of the Human World. While they had several locales that they were supervisors over, and addressed them solely as a district with an assigned number, the humans knew this place by another name: Karakura Town. The older man standing before the young Captain merely rose his arm and scratched the side of his head in response. "I understand that, but what I don't quite follow is why you've called me over. This sounds like a mission for one of you revenue tax robbers to handle." he answered, in a rather uninspired and unenthusiastic tone of voice. He clearly did not wish to be here, whatsoever. "Besides... are you suggesting you couldn't handle it yourself, Tōshi-kun?" the man continued. "Tōshi-kun"... Being addressed in this manner quickly managed to get on the young Captain's bad side. "You will address me as Captain Hitsugaya, and nothing less. Regardless if I could handle this or not, Captain-Commander Kyōraku specifically requested that I ask you to handle this incident." the Captain explained.